I've been noticing condensation in one of the headlights. Is this normal? I know i usually get it on the tail lights after a wash, but since its been raining lately, the build up in the headlights not going away. I hope theres no residue left when it drys.

 

It Happens often as the silicone ages, dries, and cracks. Remove the headlight from your car, take out the bulbs and use a blow dryer to heat up and remove the condensation. Then throw the light in your oven for 8 minutes on 350 degrees F. Pull it out and then squeeze it tightly together, this should seal any cracks or opening in the silicone sealant. Same goes for your tail light.

 

Before going to a lot of effort to remove the condensation be sure it is not on the outside of my lense and can be removed with plastice cleaner. I embarrased myself a while ago by taking a car in and asking for new headlight assemblies for this condition only to have the service advisor grab a nearby bottle of plastic polish and cleaning both up right away. I was certain it was condensation.

Dave Mac

 

I gotta do that oven procedure. It was 80 degrees today with sunshine, and that condensation is still in there. I dont think its on the outside tho. I use that plastic/lens cleaner stuff twice a year, and the last time was bout 2 weeks ago.

 

Try running your headlights until everything is warmed up inside the housing. Maybe 10 to 15 minutes, then open the backs of your lights and let the moisture dissipate out of the headlight assembly. You could also use the hair dryer as mentioned in a previous post, or simply open the backs while your car sits in the sunlight. The sun will heat up the moisture and allow it to evaporate.

 

Note that condensation DOES NOT necessarily happen because of weak/cracked seals. The headlamps for the 92-95 es are not completely sealed, they have 3 vents in the rear to let out heat. Water/vapor can enter these holes, and cause condensation in the lens on the inside.

If you see the yellowing or hazing of the lens, thats called oxidation of the plastic. The plastic originally came with a plastic clear coat of some sort, and after a while, that peels off exposing the plastic, which the oxygen in the air oxidizes, causing the lens surface to become hazy and yellow.
This can be fixed by removing the surface oxidation with a plstic polish or wet sanding followed y a plastic polish.

 

Wow you (and myself) got a good response from this group. I now have some ideas to try.

Please let us know what turns out to work for you. My problem is in a Mecedes so folks here won't need to hear about that.

Thanks
Harry

 

We're here to help

If in fact your silicone has no sealant problems in it and it is the vents that are letting in water vapor like tuan said, you can clamp those partially off, not recommended though. Good luck!

 

Those rubber vent things are there to release hot air from inside the housing so, u should'nt clamp them.
I found that inside the rubber vents are some peices of foam, which just fell apart into little pieces. They have fallen everywhere inside my housing X_X so you should take the rubber vents out (just pull them out) and wash out the old foam. Then, stuff a new peice of foam in there. That way, any vapor or moisture going in the vent condenses on the foam and dries up before it enters the housing.

 

You know, when I did my retrofit, I put those silica gel packs inside each headlight to ward off this very problem. I don't know if they work or not, but I have had no condensation inside of my lenses since.

I beleive most moisture leaks in when you change your lightbulbs and do not do a good job of replacing the rubber boot.

If you go to a self serve touchless car wash, avoid spraying too close to your headlights at full blast with the water. This can also be a cause of moisture leaks.

 

Lubetube, the o-ring sealant you can get from pinch-a-penny pool stores works really well on sealing the boots i found out

 

Thanks for all the tips
Turns out that the condensation is leaving residue, sort of like outside'. Gonna have to open the headlights and clean. Will try the oven procedure along with checking out the foam and boots.

 

Also, better be careful when you bake them back together. Condensation WILL form when you re heat and push the lens/assembly together b/c of the temperature difference of your kitchen vs inside the housing. Maybe try those little silica gel packs?

 

^Can you even but those and if so where? Or do you just have to go get some beef jerkey(mmmmm beef jerky mmmmmm)?

 

Aren't the ones in shoe boxes silica gel packs? If they are, just go "shoe" shopping and grab them haha